How much junk mail does the U.S. Postal Service need to send to make up an indefensible deficit of $25 million a day?

When the U.S. Postal Service proposed eliminating Saturday delivery to help put it back on a fiscally sustainable path, I decided to keep track of my inbound mail, excluding packages, to find out how much of it was worthwhile.

I suspected, appropriately as it turns out, that most of my mail was useless junk mail.

The numbers support this suspicion.

In the month of April, I received 251 ounces of mail. Of that, 105 ounces of mail was useful — bills, magazines, and notices from organizations that I support.

The other 146 ounces — more than 9 pounds of junk mail — went directly into the trash.

In other words, 58 percent of my incoming mail was landfill fodder.

I hope increasing junk mail isn’t being considered as part of the solution for the U.S. Postal Service’s fiscal problems. If it is, I’m going to need a lot bigger mailbox.